Softball is a strange game in comparison to baseball. Some odd differences occur in how the differences manifest themselves.
For example, in our game Tuesday, we batted around and made it halfway through our lineup a second time, as we took a 9-0 lead. This is not that strange the way we have been hitting this year. We did it with a combination of mostly singles with a couple walks and an error and a sac fly and a double and triple thrown in for good measure. It's how we roll when things are going well.
Our opponent was the Motor Boatin' Show Boaters, who came into the game needing to beat us to stay alive in the race for first place and seeding for the playoffs. They were in second and in our 7-0 start, everyone else had already been eliminated. And they really needed to beat us by more than the sixteen we had won by in our first matchup - the famous walk-off slaughter slam called by our own Cage.
You gotta hand it to the Showboaters - they hit the ball hard. They hit at least five, maybe more no doubters over the fence. The first two were solo shots and then this is where the softball curse comes in. The rest were all singles due to the vagaries of the softball rules on the enclosed fields in Pleasanton. One inning they hit two, and had four or five hits, and scored all of one run. In the end, we had a comfortable lead at 20-9 going into the last inning and won 20-14.
This facet could be called the perfect storm, for us, but I was really referring to the lineup we had that night. Five Regulars out, at the A's game, at rock concerts, and on business trips, including all-star pitcher Sir Guy who held them to six runs last time. Tremendous lifts were provided by Tom pitching, and Ross manning right field, and Larry behind the plate and at second base. It sounds like Tom was serving meatballs, but he made some great pitches when he had to and stranded the bases loaded at least twice maybe three times. His strikeout of one of their powerful lefties was a thing of beauty. He pitched two balls inside, and all the batter could do was hit weak foul grounders down the line. And then he froze him with a third - this one was on the deep inside corner and the guy couldn't even get off a swing.
Ross made a great running catch in RF, and contributed three hits, and a couple of runs. Larry had a two run clutch hit in the first inning rally that blew it open into a big inning. Nice to know we have that kind of quality in our back pocket.
The center of the lineup really was productive as usual, and between them RB and Hama had nine hits and nine RBIs. Mario and Rams also had three hits.
Jason had four hits, and two howls, and the funniest worried-about-stats moment, and what would a Transdyn game be without these highlights? The howls were for a dive where he came up empty in the 5-6 hole, and one time when he got forced at third. The stats moment was when he hit a screaming line drive off the left fielder's leg and/or glove with so much top spin that it handcuffed the guy, and he immediately turned to the (first base) dugout and asked "was that a hit Heff?", only I was coaching third so I was nowhere to be found over there.
Most importantly, we have now clinched first place and dare I say it, only two more for a true first, an undefeated season. But only if we win this week, so let's just think about BASBHAT coming up. I am knocking on wood all around me so just talking about it doesn't jinx us.
Might feel strange to have almost everyone there after last week, but I'm sure we can handle it. Call it the Perfect Strum, hit the right chord.
Milestones:
RB 10 2b (#26)
Hama 100 ab (#32)
RB 50 h (#46)
For example, in our game Tuesday, we batted around and made it halfway through our lineup a second time, as we took a 9-0 lead. This is not that strange the way we have been hitting this year. We did it with a combination of mostly singles with a couple walks and an error and a sac fly and a double and triple thrown in for good measure. It's how we roll when things are going well.
Our opponent was the Motor Boatin' Show Boaters, who came into the game needing to beat us to stay alive in the race for first place and seeding for the playoffs. They were in second and in our 7-0 start, everyone else had already been eliminated. And they really needed to beat us by more than the sixteen we had won by in our first matchup - the famous walk-off slaughter slam called by our own Cage.
You gotta hand it to the Showboaters - they hit the ball hard. They hit at least five, maybe more no doubters over the fence. The first two were solo shots and then this is where the softball curse comes in. The rest were all singles due to the vagaries of the softball rules on the enclosed fields in Pleasanton. One inning they hit two, and had four or five hits, and scored all of one run. In the end, we had a comfortable lead at 20-9 going into the last inning and won 20-14.
This facet could be called the perfect storm, for us, but I was really referring to the lineup we had that night. Five Regulars out, at the A's game, at rock concerts, and on business trips, including all-star pitcher Sir Guy who held them to six runs last time. Tremendous lifts were provided by Tom pitching, and Ross manning right field, and Larry behind the plate and at second base. It sounds like Tom was serving meatballs, but he made some great pitches when he had to and stranded the bases loaded at least twice maybe three times. His strikeout of one of their powerful lefties was a thing of beauty. He pitched two balls inside, and all the batter could do was hit weak foul grounders down the line. And then he froze him with a third - this one was on the deep inside corner and the guy couldn't even get off a swing.
Ross made a great running catch in RF, and contributed three hits, and a couple of runs. Larry had a two run clutch hit in the first inning rally that blew it open into a big inning. Nice to know we have that kind of quality in our back pocket.
The center of the lineup really was productive as usual, and between them RB and Hama had nine hits and nine RBIs. Mario and Rams also had three hits.
Jason had four hits, and two howls, and the funniest worried-about-stats moment, and what would a Transdyn game be without these highlights? The howls were for a dive where he came up empty in the 5-6 hole, and one time when he got forced at third. The stats moment was when he hit a screaming line drive off the left fielder's leg and/or glove with so much top spin that it handcuffed the guy, and he immediately turned to the (first base) dugout and asked "was that a hit Heff?", only I was coaching third so I was nowhere to be found over there.
Most importantly, we have now clinched first place and dare I say it, only two more for a true first, an undefeated season. But only if we win this week, so let's just think about BASBHAT coming up. I am knocking on wood all around me so just talking about it doesn't jinx us.
Might feel strange to have almost everyone there after last week, but I'm sure we can handle it. Call it the Perfect Strum, hit the right chord.
Milestones:
RB 10 2b (#26)
Hama 100 ab (#32)
RB 50 h (#46)
No comments:
Post a Comment